Palace denies ordering closure of government lawyer’s office

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye denied yesterday that Malacañang ordered the office of Assistant Government Corporate Counsel Efren Gonzales padlocked for defying a presidential order in testifying before the Senate.

He said it will be up to Government Corporate Counsel Agnes Devanadera to determine what action should be taken against her assistant, Gonzales, for appearing before the same Senate inquiry Thursday to testify on alleged anomalies in the $500-million North Railway project without clearance from President Arroyo.

Bunye said Gonzales should have consulted with Devanadera to find out if he could go to the hearing.

Devanadera said yesterday she would ask Gonzales to explain his appearance before the Senate despite an executive order (EO) barring government officials from attending congressional inquiries without prior presidential approval.

"I will ask him to explain," she told reporters at her house in Parañaque City.

"Prior to the hearing, I was talking to him (Gonzales), and he said he would not attend (the inquiry)," she said.

Devanadera said she told Gonzales that "the latter is not authorized to attend," but he argued "he is not covered by Executive Order 464."

She said she ordered the office of Gonzales padlocked without intending to lock him out, because he also had a key to the room.

"He can still enter his room," she explained. "I was just trying to protect documents there."

Gonzales can be suspended or dismissed from government service for defying an executive order from the President, she added.

Devanadera said there is nothing anomalous about the North Luzon Railways contract.

"The project should be exempted from bidding because what it entails is a government to government transaction," she said.

"With regards to the EO, I think this is just what we need. Government officials and employees, instead of roaming around and attending affairs which are not in their priority, should just stay in their office and concentrate on their work."

Eleven Cabinet officials and agency heads invited to the Senate on Thursday snubbed the inquiry a day after Mrs. Arroyo issued EO 464 barring government as well as military and police officials from appearing at congressional inquiries without presidential permission.

Gonzales, who was the only official to show up at the inquiry, said he later learned his office had been padlocked and files taken away even before the Senate committee hearing was over.

"I got a text (message) from my wife and my secretary informed me that my office had been padlocked," he said.

Gonzales told the Senate Committee of the Whole at the start of the hearing that he did not seek clearance from Malacañang to appear before the inquiry.

Gonzales added he thought he was not covered under the EO.

Those who snubbed the hearing were: Budget Secretary Romulo Neri; Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Merceditas Gutierrez; Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Undersecretary Guiling Mamondong; Jose Cortez Jr., president of the North Railways Corp.; and retired Armed Forces chief general Narciso Abaya, now president and chief executive officer of the Bases Conversion Development Authority.

Also invited were Monetary Board member Juanita Amatong; Jose Ma. Sarasola II, general manager of the Philippine National Railways; Antonio Abanilla, assistant chief state counsel of the Department of Justice; retired Philippine National Police chief Roberto Lastimoso, now general manager of the MRT 3; and Melquiades Robles, head of the Light Railway Transit Authority.

The Senate inquiry was looking into alleged government wrongdoing in the $500-million North Rail project that was awarded to a Chinese company. — Aurea Calica, Rhodina Villanueva